Supercharged S52 issues

[m3f_nofattys]

Hey Guys,


I recently made an impulse purchase of a 91 318is with an S52 OBD1 swap that has a Vortech V1 blower and water to air intercooler system on it. The entire car was restored in 2011 and the previous owner drove it about 2000 miles after the rebuild. The chassis has 105k original miles on it, motor has 88k and supercharger was brand new. I drove it from Florida to NY and it ran flawlessly until I overheated about 10 miles from my house while in traffic. I shut the car down immediately and only a little bit of coolant puked over the cap. Turned out to be my thermostat. I get the car back from mechanic, drive for about 4 hours, nothing crazy or over 70mph, no clutch dumps, money shifts etc. The engine started to make a whurring sound and a CEL came on during acceleration. When I let off the gas, CEL would go away, but the whurring sound remains on acceleration and deceleration. I opened the hood and the Crankcase Vent spit some oil on the Oil Filter Case that sits below it, it wasnt a mist but a slight pool. I cleaned the area and the oil is perfect, no coolant mixed in. I did notice that one of the hose oulets lost its cap, so i replaced it, let the car run for about 20 minutes and then drove it about 7 miles until the CEL came on again and the whurring came back. Opened the hood, and there was no oil on under the Crank Vent.


*Edit* I just let the car warm up completely and while in neutral I revved the engine. As soon as it hit 4k RPM's, the CEL came on, engine started to chatter, and when I let off the gas and it dipped under 4k RPM's engine went back to normal sound and no CEL.


I have absolutely no experience with these cars, therefore I have no idea what to actually search for. Ive owned the car for 20 days and including the drive home Ive been able to drive it for 3 of those days. I am a bit beside myself at this point because I spent a shit load of money on this car. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.


This is the vehicle, for reference

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113358

[m3f_enderw88]

Search for VANOS issues. Sounds like you have one. The 4K is the giveaway.

[m3f_97_4dr_5spd_m3]

Great looking car.

[m3f_pbonsalb]

Yes, nice car. The part of your story that jumped out at me most was the overheat. A blown headgasket that pressurizes the cooling system is common on older supercharged or turbocharged S/M5x motors. Once you are sure you have bled the system completely, which is much harder with the low mount expansion tank than with the high mount normally used by the E30 (I would have retained the high mount, self bleeding tank, and have changed to the Euro hard pipe under the intake manifold so I can have one), I would watch the coolant level carefully for a period of time. If you are routinely adding some, you probably have a blown gasket. If your top hose gets rock hard, that is another indication and the same goes if it is hard the next morning after not being driven overnight.



The second part was the crankcase vent problem, another issue with supercharged and turbocharged S/M5x motors. It is not necessarily related to the overheat. Assuming you have left the open valvecover vent (with the breather filter), the system should work. I ran one of those and made over 450 rwhp with a Vortech supercharged S52 at 16 psi, so it works even if it is a little smelly at times. The V1 blower drain may not have been installed correctly, causing oil to back up into the blower and send it through your intake manifold. If it is all oily in there, this probably happened. The drain must slope gently to the dipstick tube. The tube needs a second hole drilled through it near the top of the portion of the tube that is inside the crankcase when the tube is fully inserted. There is already one small hole in this area. A second, slightly larger one (at 90 degrees to the existing one to preserve structural integrity and just above or below it) will work. This helps vent the drain so it works better given the double walled tubing and dipstick occupying the tube.



I do not like the under car air filter. I would put an inline vent in it that opens only if the filter is waterlogged. You can find them with a little searching. Not the end of the world if you are a fair weather driver. And there may be no other place for it. Space is tight with all the piping and intercooler and blower.



I like the air to air intercooler concept. I would have to see the intercooler or know its specs to know whether I like the intercooler itself.



Vanos is certainly something that goes eventually. 15 years would be a good lifespan. Rebuild with the Beisan seal kit. No big deal, but special cam timing tools required for reinstallation. You can read the instructions at the Beisan website. Vanos retards timing at idle, advances just off idle, and retards again at about 5000 rpm. When failing, it often rattles, some people say like a box of marbles. Or clatter. If this is the problem, it is unrelated to the overheat and the crankcase vent oil discharge, and that is the odd part to me with it being the explanation.



Good luck. Anything can be fixed. Just about, anyway.

[m3f_nofattys]

Thank you for the compliments, I just wish the car ran as good as it looks.


I had my mechanic check for a head gasket problem and he said everything was good on that level. I also dont have any tell tale signs of a gasket failure. I checked my oil against brand new oil and looks identical. If I remove the radiator cap, no air bubbles come up. There is no water or smoke coming out of my exhaust. Oil level is where it was when I bought the car, which is just below the top line of the dip stick when the car is warmed up.


I am not sure about the blower drain, I will have him check that tomorrow, but the system does have the vent filter fitted.


As for the VANOS, the engine really doesnt chatter or have that marbles in a can sound, I checked on youtube, looked at at least 5 videos and my car doesnt sound anything like that. It sounds more like a jet engine winding up and down, but not as high pitched once it hits 4k rpms.


Can I drive the car like this so long as I keep it under the 4k threshold? I live on Long Island, so theres very few places I can go faster than 50mph anyway. My mechanic is about 37 miles away. A flat bed tow to the shop would be 300 bucks which I just did 3 days ago.

[m3f_pbonsalb]

Jet engine winding down may be the blower failing. Internal seals can go, letting oil in to the intake. Bearing can fail, resulting in metal on metal contact.



Keep an eye on coolant level over time. In my experience the headgasket does not fail by releasing coolant into the oil, but rather combustion pressure into the coolant, on forced induction E36 six cylinders. Likewise, it does not seem to let coolant into the chamber, where it burns and goes out the exhaust.



Probably what I would do if I was concerned would be to pull the supercharger belt. If Dinan/RMS, pull it. If VFE, pull it and put a stock accessory drive belt on.

[m3f_nofattys]

Blower failing at 2k miles?


I will just have it towed. Id rather lose 300 dollars then 8k on a new engine and blower.


Excuse my ignorance, what would the accessory drive belt do? just eliminate the blower altogether?

[m3f_pbonsalb]

Depends on how the blower is driven. The VFE kit is driven off the main accessory belt drive; the Dinan and RMS kits have an extended crank pulley with dedicated blower drive.



Disconnect the blower and then you can listen to see whether the jet engine winding down sound is the blower or something else. Easy test you need not pay a shop $200 to do.



A V1 or V2 with an improper oil drain could easily fail in 2k miles. More oil is being pumped in than can leave, so the internal seals are overwhelmed. Hopefully the bearings would still be good since they cost more than the seals.



Check the blower pulley also. Is the bolt still in the front of it on the blower shaft? There is a woodruff key in the shaft that can break also. Might need a mirror to see that with the bolt out and pulley on. Bolt goes in with blue colored loctite; do not overtighten. A moving pulley (broken bolt or woodruff key) can make the rattling sound you previously described.



With a custom project like this, it is best to learn to DIY. If you have to pay to tow and pay a shop $100 per hour to figure out someone else's custom project, it will be an expensive car for you. AAA Platinum gives you a couple of hundred miles of towing per year for the $125 fee.



If you had not described it as a winding down sound, the seems rotational to me, I might have wondered about a boost leak. Hoses can become loose, a bypass valve can give way, etc.

[m3f_nofattys]

Thank you for the information.



I know for the fact the PO replaced the woodruff key because the old one sheared off. I kind of tapped myself out buying this vehicle, I didnt think a car that was rebuilt the way this was done would have issues so soon, so me working with the mechanic for now will be the only way I can learn.



I am printing this thread and bringing it with me, we are going to check each and every item you listed. I will report back

[m3f_nofattys]

Update time.


Go to the mechanic and we did some snooping around. The Woodruff key was good, bolt was in tact, and all hoses were secure. Vanos was not the issue, and the rear main seal was fine. Turns out the previous owner, when the woodreuff key was replaced, also replaced the cam sensor and one other. To keep the sensors and wires out of the way, he used tape to adhere them to the engine block.


The tape failed, the cam sensor dropped just enough to hit the belt or pulley and it destroyed the wire. We found it using a camera. Sensor fixed, no more light, car runs perfect.


Thanks for the help guys

[m3f_enderw88]

he used tape to adhere them to the engine block.

Didn't see that one coming! Nice find! Now you should start going over the car with a magnifying glass to find out what other shortcuts he took on that swap.

[m3f_pbonsalb]

Happy to read it was an easy fix and nothing major. Zip ties don't cost much. Your description reads more like crank position sensor than cam position sensor, though, based on the area of the problem. The cam position sensor wire should not be long enough to hit any belts, at least when installed on an E36 or E34 that was originally fitted with an M/S5x motor.

[m3f_nofattys]

I have about a billion zip ties from my car audio days and use them for everything. unfortunately, like enderw88 said, people take short cuts.


There had also been this knocking on the bottom of the car vehicle at between 17 and 25 mph, PO said it was the solid delrin Giubo he installed, which vibrated until it warmed up, then the harmonic balance got better. It started to get worse, sounded like a little person was under the car beating it with a hammer. Went under the car today to check it out, the center support bearing was thrashed which made the driveshaft bounce. Lucky thing that the driveshaft was under a year old from Portland Drivelines, so the entire thing is covered. They are sending a new one tomorrow.

[m3f_hencini]

Delrin Giubo? That's pretty race car...


You might consider swapping back to the OEM rubber piece while you're in there... Not sure if it's doing much harm, but it certainly seems a bit overkill unless you're just putting a *ton* of power down.


Either way, congrats on the new purchase.


Edit: Just looked at the sale thread. Nice looking ride.


Something else that caught my eye, though, was the solid front control arm lollipops. Again, this seems overkill to me for a street car (assuming it is street driven here). It just seems like it could do more harm than good, as they transmit much more shock to the chassis than the original design.


Search around a little bit and see what experience other members have had in this department. IIRC, it's been mixed at best. There are a lot of guys who spend a ton of time on the track and still have the OE style bushings.

[m3f_nofattys]

My mechanic is also a mechanical engineer who likes to play with cars. He actually likes the delrin giubo, and it doesnt transmit too much vibration in to the cabin, which is also something I am not afraid of.


Thank you for the compliment. When the vehicle is running correctly, its quite a machine. I had an 07 335i back when they first came out and I absolutely hated it, another impulse purchase lol. I never understood why "drivers" loved these cars so much, now I know. Id have to travel a ways to take this car on the track, and quite frankly, if there was one around the corner I probably wouldnt go. I bought the car because I like to have things that no one else has, and there are very few pure bred e30's where I live, most are slushbox verts with fading paintjobs and bottle caps.


I plan on doing a couple of things to the interior (alcantara headliner, seat inserts, heat shielding under the carpet, and custom audio install), a nice brake kit, and new wheels, I hate the BBS's, I will probably go with fifteen52 3pc Tarmac's in white. Then its going to be a show queen and driven 2-3 days a week.